Challenge of Evacuating the Carless in Five Major U.S. Cities

Abstract

The 2007 evacuation of New Orleans, Louisiana, was one of the most successful in U.S. history with more than 1.2 million people evacuating the region by car during a 48-h period. It was also one of the most unsuccessful evacuations for a carless society–-those without access to cars or those without the physical or economic means to evacuate who were stranded below sea level. Reasons for the successful car-based evacuation stem from local, regional, and interstate collaboration of transportation professionals, emergency managers, and state police to establish a highway contra-flow traffic management system. Evacuating carless and special needs populations requires collaboration of various stakeholders, including transportation planners, emergency managers, health-care providers, and others. This discussion is based on stakeholder focus groups across five U.S. regions, including Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; New Orleans; New York; and San Francisco, California. The paper concludes with a discussion of overall themes emerging from the focus groups around coordinating emergency preparedness at a regional scale.